February 14, 2008

Strange twist

So the Mavs trade saga continues. It now appears that Devean George is the lone hurdle in bringing Jason Kidd to the Mavs for George, Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop, Jerry Stackhouse, Moe Ager, cash and draft picks.

George will discuss all angles of the trade and what it means for him once he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He has a rare stipulation in his contract in which he can block a trade, which he exercised Wednesday. If he agrees to a trade, he will lose his early Bird rights, which, theoretically, could cost him salary on his next deal.

But, realistically, he'll be lucky to match the $2.4 million he's making this season with the Mavs, so the money should not be a major concern. Two weeks ago, George said he'd prefer to be traded if he wasn't going to be in the rotation, mainly so he could showcase himself and let other teams know that he's over his injuries and simply not in Avery Johnson's rotation.

But since then, he's been in the rotation and playing well, so now he's reluctant to leave a good thing.

It stands to reason, that once George digests everything, he'll relent and the trade will go through. But, who knows? A crazy day could get crazier in the coming days.

If a deal is not completed Thursday, when the Mavs play at Phoenix, it probably won't become official, if George allows it, until after the All-Star break on Monday. League offices shut down during the weekend extravaganza.